Muscle tension Dysphonia… How can this Disorder Negatively Effect the Singing Voice?

Recently, we received a very talented (musically and otherwise) student who has been offered a major record deal in the United States.

Three years ago, this singer/songwriter/producer felt that he could no longer reach the high notes, which he could easily reach before.

He experienced vocal fatigue and thus could sustain any sound only for a short period of time. He acquired fear and emotional distress, knowing that his singing voice is not working in full capacity as before. He decided to withhold embarking onto the record deal; And rightfully so, as he felt that he could've lost his voice altogether if he continued singing (and speaking for that matter) in the same fashion.

Within our introductory/exploratory session, we explained to him that if he does not change the application of his speaking and singing voice, he may actually lose his voice to the point of no return.

What could be a bigger fear and frustration for a talented up-and-coming singer then to lose their “instrument” (the voice)? No doubt, it can be completely devastating for anybody, let alone for a person who could lose his singing career for good… Needless to say, our soon-to-be student will be attending our non-surgical voice (speaking and singing) repair course, nonetheless, coupled with natural herbal treatment.

So stay tuned and we will be glad to introduce you to his post-course letter which we have no doubt that it will reflect nothing but complete success!

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“When you’re a singer and it’s your voice, it is just a terrible, terrible feeling,” she told the outlet. “It was a great, great loss, so I had to come to terms with losing the voice that I had and rediscovering my new one.” - Shania Twain.

To add, I would have to say that Shania's "new" voice is nowhere near sounds as good as before her ordeals... Frankly, it sounds like she still has Muscle Tension Dysphonia disorder, coupled with elements of Sulcus Vocalis (where the vocal cords are not always working in sync with each other - and thus, a gap between them becomes apparent).

Shania Twain, unfortunately, still sounds somewhat raspy and hoarse. Her voice, at times, disappears due to the gap between the vocal cords, and therefore it gets trapped in her neck and her lower throat. Yes, the surgeons (I'm sure, the best ones) were trying to fix her "instrument", but they did not address the "player".

In other words, the mechanical application of the proper use of the voice has not been addressed - which means that it is only a matter of time when the voice will seize again and, at that time, the damage of the vocal anatomy will, most likely, become irreversible and inoperable. God forbid that it will become the case. I personally would not wish it on any enemy...

The moral of the above is:

If, for example, the "car mechanics" are broken, don't put it to "rest" in the garage... It will not fix itself. Also, washing, polishing and waxing that car, will not make it drivable. Fix the mechanics first, then wash, polish and wax next. Also, if the driver does not care enough about his/her car (like not changing the oil on time, not ever doing a tune-up, not rotating the tires, etc.), this car will not last too long.

However, if all of the above is taking care of, but the driver is not actually aware that the gas pedal is on the right, as well as not knowing how to follow the GPS, and lastly, not driving on the correct side of the road, the accident would likely to happen...

Likewise, there are many components which could cause vocal injury. We will identify all of them in our next blog.

Please stay tuned.